Up in smoke: Germany’s bright new cannabis dawn obscured by cloud of bureaucracyRecreational drug legalised in April, but promised licensed shops have not materialised, while cannabis clubs are still waiting for permitsTue Oct 01 2024 - 17:47
Warsaw’s former police chief accused of accidentally blowing hole in headquarters with grenade launcherJaroslaw Szymczyk thought grenade launcher was a loudspeaker, say reportsTue Oct 01 2024 - 13:22
Austria’s victorious right-wing Freedom Party scored best with closed-border policies and unrivalled mastery of social mediaFor jubilant FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl, coalition talks must end with him in the chancellery and his party heading governmentMon Sept 30 2024 - 19:32
Austria’s far-right Freedom Party scores historic election winTough negotiations loom as controversial FPÖ leader Herbert Kickl aims to form governmentSun Sept 29 2024 - 17:23
Life imitates art as populists collapse Thuringia parliamentFar-right AfD’s collapse of inaugural sitting of Thuringia state parliament provides timely backdrop to new play in which populist governor sparks constitutional crisisFri Sept 27 2024 - 16:53
Far-right Freedom Party promises ‘fortress Austria’ and zero-asylum policy as country goes to pollsFPÖ leader Herbert Kickl has shaped party’s populist brand with rhyming, racist rhetoricThu Sept 26 2024 - 20:07
Angela Merkel thwarted Friedrich Merz’s ambition to succeed her. Now they have buried the hatchetMan who finally became CDU leader in 2022 hosts event to belatedly mark Merkel’s 70th birthdayThu Sept 26 2024 - 17:45
German Green resignations increase speculation of snap electionGreen leadership steps down in Germany three days after party ejected from new Brandenburg state parliament in Potsdam after polling just 4%Wed Sept 25 2024 - 18:18
Germany warns UniCredit on mooted Commerzbank takeoverGerman government has no plans to sell remaining stake in CommerzbankWed Sept 25 2024 - 16:05
Italian bank UniCredit’s bid for German stalwart Commerzbank provokes outrageHowever, State sold shares accumulated during 2008-2010 banking crisis to bidder in auctionTue Sept 24 2024 - 16:02
Germany’s SPD benefits from keeping Olaf Scholz in backgroundChancellor has lost his three-year-old hero factor in recent elections. He has even been dropped from SPD postersMon Sept 23 2024 - 19:48
Pastors make stand as Alternative for Germany set for electoral gains in chancellor’s backyard Polls say the far-right party will get another big win in Tuesday’s state election in Brandenberg, further weakening the position of chancellor Olaf ScholzFri Sept 20 2024 - 15:00
Germany grapples with fresh economic blow as Intel pulls plug on new plantSite-clearing had already begun at giant new site for the troubled chipmakerWed Sept 18 2024 - 06:00
Friedrich Merz to compete against Olaf Scholz for chancellery in 2025 Centre-right opposition leader gets CDU and CSU backing in shift towards tougher line on migrationTue Sept 17 2024 - 18:08
Herbert Kickl, the skilled sloganeer aiming to make Austria a ‘fortress’ against immigration The leader of Austria’s Freedom Party (FPÖ) hopes to become ‘the people’s chancellor’ following this month’s general electionTue Sept 17 2024 - 18:07
Europe floods: At least 15 killed amid record water levels across east and centre of ContinentCzech military helicopters deployed to rescue people from homes as evacuations take place in multiple cities in several countriesMon Sept 16 2024 - 18:54
German police say new border checks ‘impossible to implement’Interior minister Nancy Faeser said decision to temporarily set aside open-border measures was due to security risk posed by the numbers of irregular arrivalsMon Sept 16 2024 - 17:57
At least eight dead as heavy rains and gale force winds hit central EuropeLower Austria, the state surrounding Vienna, declared a disaster area with some 20,000 rescue crew members at workSun Sept 15 2024 - 20:53
Austrian woman given prison sentence for killing neighbour by infecting him with CovidWoman (54) ignored lockdown measures in December 2021Fri Sept 13 2024 - 16:30
German ministry denies claims it considered sanctioning academics supporting Palestine Academics sign letter backing students’ ‘right to peaceful protest’ in wake of Israel’s invasion of GazaThu Sept 12 2024 - 19:40
Germany orders nationwide checks after Dresden bridge collapseStretch of Carola Bridge fell into the river Elbe on WednesdayWed Sept 11 2024 - 19:06
Olaf Scholz attacks German opposition over migration standoffSocial Democratic Party leader rejects Christian Democratic Union claim government has ‘lost control’ of immigrationWed Sept 11 2024 - 18:12
German border checks the frustrating new normal in what was the heart of EU’s open-border Schengen areaAs migration ramps up tensions in the Scholz coalition, few in Berlin expect ‘temporary’ border measures to be eased before June 2026, when a new EU migration and asylum pact comes inTue Sept 10 2024 - 19:08
Germany announces plans to introduce checks on all bordersInterior minister says: ‘We are strengthening our inner security with concrete action’Mon Sept 09 2024 - 18:03
German Chancellor says ‘now is time’ for talks between Ukraine and RussiaGermany's Olaf Scholz tells ZDF the time is right ‘to discuss how we can get out of this war situation and towards peace’Sun Sept 08 2024 - 19:33
Germany’s leaders are struggling to deliver stable government, healthy economy and secure social orderWith old political certainties withering and new populist parties surging, the 75th birthday party for German parliamentary democracy is a festival of strange bedfellowsSun Sept 08 2024 - 17:58
What I Read This Week: Grenfell heartbreak and Germanglophiles obsession with nudityDerek Scally on the stories that caught his eye including how talk about mental health in Ireland rarely results in actionSat Sept 07 2024 - 08:00
Zelenskiy tells western defence ministers of ‘significant’ gaps between arms pledges and actual deliveriesUS defence minister praises Ukraine’s surprise military incursion into Russia’s Kursk region for putting ‘the Kremlin’s army of aggression now on the defensive on its own turf’.Fri Sept 06 2024 - 16:38
VW’s crisis of confidence is giving the German economy a migraineThe carmaker’s struggles reflect the difficult time the country’s once-vaunted manufacturing base is going throughFri Sept 06 2024 - 06:00
Germany’s ‘prudent’ but unpopular Olaf Scholz grapples with immigration, asylum and arms for Ukraine Representative survey out this week indicated just 23 per cent of Germans would like Chancellor to return for a second termThu Sept 05 2024 - 19:48
Members of Germany’s CDU call for co-operation ban on Sahra Wagenknecht AllianceBSW party made strong showing in regional elections in Saxony and ThuringiaWed Sept 04 2024 - 19:00
Volkswagen workers in revolt as company warns of painful cutsFinance chief says drastic cost-cutting measures necessary amid weak demand in EuropeWed Sept 04 2024 - 17:28
Former top VW executive goes on trial over emissions fraudMartin Winterkorn trial comes as company seeks €5bn of cuts amid slowdownWed Sept 04 2024 - 06:00
The guru showing Alternative for Germany how to use social media to win votes and influence young peopleThe far-right party’s success in recent German state elections was partly down to its social media strategyTue Sept 03 2024 - 15:32
State election results weaken Olaf Scholz and have ramifications for all of GermanyExcluding Alternative for Germany (AfD) from power after its strong showing on Sunday will enable it to rally support against the ‘undemocratic’ established partiesMon Sept 02 2024 - 19:00
Scholz warns Germany not to get used to far-right election victories after ‘bitter’ setbackFar-right win raises fresh doubt over Scholz’s ability to win second term in next year’s federal electionsMon Sept 02 2024 - 11:49
Eastern German voters abandon mainstream parties to embrace populismA political earthquake, exactly a year ahead of federal elections, sees the AfD top the poll in ThuringiaSun Sept 01 2024 - 20:18
Election time in Germany: Why is the far right so popular in the east?The far-right Alternative for Germany party’s Björn Höcke wants a ‘180-degree shift’ in the country’s view of its past and condemns the postwar ‘guilt cult’Sat Aug 31 2024 - 06:00
Kaczyński party faces funding cuts after Polish election commission rulingPiS accused of plundering state coffers to fund failed 2023 campaignFri Aug 30 2024 - 19:00
Weekend wipeout looms for Scholz coalition parties in eastern GermanyConcerns about immigration, the war in Ukraine and energy are reshaping the country’s political landscapeFri Aug 30 2024 - 19:00
Good employment news for Saxony at a time of political uncertaintyPolls before a weekend state election place the ruling Christian Democratic Union and the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD almost neck and neckThu Aug 29 2024 - 18:26
Sahra Wagenknecht, the ‘populist left-wing conservative’ capturing angry feelings in GermanyPolls suggest the party of the ‘populist left-wing conservative’ could change the course of the next general electionTue Aug 27 2024 - 16:49
German politicians seek stricter asylum controls in wake of Solingen stabbingsChancellor Olaf Scholz vows to tackle exploitation of system while AfD co-leader demands five-year asylum moratoriumMon Aug 26 2024 - 17:10
Pro-Palestinian marchers tell of arbitrary violence by Berlin policeThe sense of obligation the German state feels towards Israel has collided with the freedom of expression and assembly of critics of IsraelSun Aug 25 2024 - 15:01
German prosecutors warn of further ‘lone wolf’ attacks as Syrian man (26) confesses to stabbingsAttack at city festival in Solingen killed three and left eight injuredSun Aug 25 2024 - 08:08
AfD appeal grows in some German cities as Björn Höcke calls for ‘180-degree shift’ in view of Nazi pastErfurt in Thuringia is a microcosm of a post-factual right-wing political landscape in which emotion is key to unlocking popular supportSat Aug 24 2024 - 06:00
Supply of arms by US and European countries to Israel ‘a bullet aimed at the heart of justice’Palestinian officials use three-day conference in Geneva to demand that all Arms Trade Treaty signatory states cease arms shipments to IsraelTue Aug 20 2024 - 16:35
Nazi secretary (99) sentenced after German court upholds convictionIrmgard Furchner worked in Stutthof concentration camp office from June 1943 to April 1945 aged 18 and 19Tue Aug 20 2024 - 12:45
Indonesia’s outgoing leader gives cabinet jobs to loyalists of successor PrabowoAppointments aimed at smooth transition in what is widely interpreted as a quid pro quo that will ensure outgoing president Joko Widodo maintains influenceMon Aug 19 2024 - 19:40
German financial support for Ukraine under pressureBerlin’s domestic austerity measures spark fears of military aid to Kyiv being halvedMon Aug 19 2024 - 19:38
